Commission amends Goosetown permit to allow limited camping and require insurance conditions

After extended staff briefings and public comment, the Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Commission on July 7 amended the special-event permit for the Goosetown softball tournament to permit limited overnight camping in designated parking and roadway areas, exclude Marty May Field, and require insurance coverage and operational limits for vehicles and alcohol sales.

County Attorney Morgan Smith reviewed a recently supplied master policy and certificate of insurance that she said "contemplates camping" under a general liability event policy; the policy named the county as an insured/certificate holder, though it did not, in the master form, include a separate "camping-specific" endorsement. Adam Cook, an event representative, presented a site map showing tent-only and vehicle-camping zones and confirmed that one vendor who historically has driven into the Charlotte Yeoman Complex will provide commercial auto coverage naming the county before operating inside the complex. Event organizer Bill Hill told commissioners the tournament brings substantial local business and that camping fees historically offset cleanup and sanitation costs: "It brings $800,000.00 into this community," he said. Commissioners framed the approval with several conditions — including no vehicles off designated roadways except for the one vendor with approved commercial auto insurance, no camping near the splash pad, and beer sales to be separate from the Charlotte Yeoman concession stand — and voted 5-0 to amend the permit.